Prioritized-routing for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer, mobile radio access system

ABSTRACT

An ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio access system having a series of remote terminals, where each remote terminal is capable of forming a link, or hop, of the routing of a call made by one of the series of terminals. The status of the battery of each terminal which may potentially form part of the routing path of a call is reported to other terminals, whereby the routing path for a call will be decided also based on the status of the battery-charge of each terminal along the routing path.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Priority of provision application Ser. No. 60/248,182, on Nov. 13, 2000is herewith claimed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method of routing radio telephonecalls of an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system, and, in particular, tosuch an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system disclosed in copendingapplication Ser. No. 09/705,588, filed on Nov. 3, 2001, entitled“Methods and Apparatus for Coordinating Channel Access to SharedParallel Data Channels”, which application is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety. The network system having coordinating channelaccess to shared parallel data channels via a separate reservationchannel of copending application Ser. No. 09/705,588 is directed to anetwork system, such as radio network, where each node, or radioterminal, of the network is capable of serving as a node or hop of arouting path of a call from another, or to another radio terminal. Inthat system, communication between nodes or radio terminals is achievedusing Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)protocol with the addition of multiple parallel data channels servicedby one reservation channel. By dedicating a separate reservation channelfor the multiple parallel data channels, collision-free access by all ofthe competing nodes or terminals of the service group of the network isgreatly reduced. Communications between terminals or nodes is set up byinformation exchanged on the separate reservation channel, whichinformation includes all of the call set-up information such as datachannel desired to be used for transferring voice, video or data, thedesired power level of at least initial transmission, messaging such asRequest-to-Send (RTS), Clear-to-Send (CTS), Not-Clear-to-Send (NCLS),Acknowledgment (ACK) for indicating reception of the transmitted call,Non-Acknowledgment (NACK) for indicating improper reception of the call,etc. In this system, in order to further ensure fast, adequate andcollision-free transmission and reception, besides a primary modemtypically provided with the transceiver of each node or terminal, asecondary modem is also provided which is dedicated to the reservationchannel when the primary modem of the transceiver is occupied, such aswhen sending out data on a data channel. This system also provides forcollision free transmission and reception between nodes or terminals bytransmitting the reservation and data channels in time slots of timeframes, with the information as to which time slot is to be used beingincluded in the messaging transmitted by the reservation channel. Such aformat not only provides collision-free transmission, but also allowsfor Quality-of-Service (QoS) for different types of Class-of-Service(CoS), Thus, not only may voice and video be transmitted, besides data,but voice and data transmission may be prioritized, so that whencompeting calls vie for a data channel, the delay-dependent voice orvideo transmissions will take precedence. This prioritization isaccomplished by assigning prioritized calls for transmission in earliertime slots of a time frame.

The network system disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/705,588ensures that every node or terminal of a service set of terminals hasthe most information regarding all of other terminals of that serviceset, so that the choice of data channel to be used, any required delayis transmitting the call, information on power level, and the like, arechecked and updated by each terminal by a practically continuousmonitoring of the reservation channel.

As explained above, the system disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No.09/705,588 utilizes protocol that provides collision-free channelaccess, which also emphasizes improving geographic reuse of thefrequency spectrum.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,322—Mayer, et al., which patent is incorporatedby reference herein, there is disclosed a radio system is for use, inone embodiment, in battlefield conditions. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peerradio system of this patent does not have, nor require, a base station,as conventional cellular systems, personal communications system (PCS),and the like, require; instead, each radio terminal forming part of thead-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system may alternatively serve as a basestation, in addition to being an ordinary link terminal of the radiosystem, whereby, if one such terminal serving as a base station shouldfor some reason become inoperative, another terminal may take over andserve as the base station.

The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,322 isbased on a transport-mechanism using a time division duplex (TDD)technique in a code division multiple access (CDMA) system. TimeDivision Duplex (TDD) is a way of maximizing the bits/hz/km2. Such asystem not only may be used for providing commercial voice, but is alsoquite suited to both transmission and reception of data and videoservices. Time Division Duplex (TDD) systems are typically used forpacket data systems as they make much more efficient use of theavailable bandwidth, in order to deliver a much higher effective datarate to the end user. TDD is typically used in fixed wired solutions orpoint-to-point wireless systems because it has its own spectrumlimitations. TDD systems, however, have not been deployed for voicesystems.

In the above-identified provisional application serial No. 60/248,182,there is disclosed an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system for use as astand-alone system that is also connected to a cellular network and/orlandline. The ad-hoc mobile radio networking system thereof is capableof receiving and transmitting voice, data and video calls through anynumber of different types of telecommunication networks, such as thePSTN, the Internet, and the like, besides the cellular andnext-generation cellular networks.

In any ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system, a critical consideration isthe status and life of the battery of each terminal forming a part ofthe system. With the arrival of laptop computers, portable digitalassistants (PDAs) and high-tech cellular phones, consumers are beginningto request mobile data services in addition to traditional voiceservices. Such devices are in use much more than traditional cellularphones, and, therefore, deplete their limited-life batteries morequickly. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer system disclosed in theabove-mentioned priority, provisional application serial No. 60/248,182,depletes batteries even more quickly, since each terminal can also serveas a router and relay for other terminals of the system, in order toextend the range or provide alternate routes to destinations. Theability to limit the use of the battery, therefore, is a very importantelement and consideration of that system.

In commonly-owned U.S. provisional application serial No. 60/246,833,and commonly-owned pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/815,157, filedon Mar. 22, 2001, entitled “Time Division Protocol for an Ad-Hoc,Peer-to-Peer Radio Network Having Coordinating Channel Access to SharedParallel Data Channels with Separate Reservation Channel”, whichapplications are incorporated by reference herein, there are disclosed aprotocol method and algorithm for ad-hoc network system that is based onleast-energy routing of calls from and between network radio terminals.In simple terms, the major component of the routing decision is tochoose the route to the destination that uses the least amount of energyover the complete route. The major reason for this is that least-energyrouting minimizes the radiated RF energy, in order to reduceinterference between terminals. A consequence of this is that it createsthe most efficient use of the power supply of the terminals.

There are, also, other components of most conventional routingalgorithms for ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio systems that are generallyrelated to the Quality of Service (QOS). The two major attributes of QoSare: The potential for delay, or latency, and the potential for biterrors (BER) during transmission. However, no present or prior system oralgorithm has taken into consideration the impact of the battery life ofthe terminals, which, as stated above, should be a major and primaryconsideration for any network that consists of hand-held terminals, andespecially for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system where batteries areused so much more as compared to conventional radio systems such as thecellular network, PCS's,and the like. Since hand-held terminals onlyhave limited battery life in terms of trade off of size and weight,users do all that is possible in order to conserve their batteries, sothat there will be sufficient life in them when they wish to use thedevice. As stated above, ad-hoc networks discharge a battery even more,even when the terminal owner is not using the terminal, since eachterminal may also serve as a base station or a router or a link in therouting decision for connecting a call.

The present invention, therefore, is directed to the provision of theconsideration of the status of the battery-charge of each terminalforming a part or link of an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system, wherebythe routing algorithm and method by which a call from a terminal-sourceis connected to the terminal-destination or to an exterior, independentradio system and/or PSTN interconnected with the ad-hoc, peer-to-peerradio system in which the present invention is deployed, also takes intoconsideration the status of the battery of each terminal by which therouting of the outgoing call is to be connected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, the primary objective of the present invention toprovide an additional criterion to the routing decision of an ad-hoc,peer-to-peer radio system, which additional criterion includesinformation about the status of the battery-charge of each battery whichmay possibly serve as a link for call-routing of call over the radiosystem.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide such asystem where the battery of each radio terminal forming a part of thead-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system continually calculates and transmitsto other, like terminals the status of its battery-charge, whereby eachterminal is capable of taking into consideration the status of eachbattery of each terminal of the radio system when selecting the bestroute for connecting a call.

It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide such asystem where the battery-status information calculated and transmittedto other terminals is used in conjunction with least-energy routing of aradio telephone call in order to choose the route to the destinationthat uses the least amount of energy over the complete route, wherebyleast-energy routing minimizes the radiated RF energy, in order toreduce interference between terminals, and in order to provide the mostefficient use of the battery power supply of the terminals.

According to the present invention, routing algorithms are extended toinclude information about the battery state of each terminal, such thatif a choice of routes is available, one of which includes a low batteryterminal, an alternate route will be selected. Multiple levels ofbattery determination may be used, the number of which may changedepending upon different radio protocols and topologies. For example, aterminal that is in a charging cradle, or hooked up to an external powersupply, will identify itself as having infinite battery life. A terminalwith a fully charged battery will identify itself as having excellentbattery life. A terminal with a low battery life will identify itself ashaving poor battery life, which will indicate that it should only beused for routing emergency data, or in the case of no other availableoption. Once the battery drops below some configurable threshold, theterminal will identify itself as having no battery life. This will allowthe terminal to reserve some battery life for it's own use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be more readily understood with reference to theaccompanying drawings, where:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematics showing a basic, ad-hoc, peer-to-peerradio system with which the method and algorithm of the presentinvention may be used;

FIG. 2 is a schematic showing an example of least-energy routing withwhich the system of the present invention is to be used;

FIG. 3 is a schematic showing the exchange of routing tables of betweenend-users of an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system with which thebattery-status routing method and algorithm of the present invention isused;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are flow charts showing the subroutine conducted by eachterminal of the ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system for initiating thechecking of the status of its battery, either when it is in its idlestate or when it in its stable, alert state;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the subroutine by which the status ofbattery of the terminal is determined for subsequent reporting to othersimilar terminals in order to serve as a basis for calculating the bestroute of connection of a radio telephone call;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the subroutine performed at theterminal-source that is initiating an outgoing radio telephone call, inorder to actuate the subroutine for determining the best routing of itsoutgoing call; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the routing table messaging subroutinefor establishing the outgoing radio telephone call which may be basednot only on least energy routing, but also on the status of the batteryof each terminal-link potentially forming a part of the route forconnecting the outgoing radio telephone call.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, and to FIGS. 1-3 fornow, an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system is shown. The ad-hoc radiosystem consists of a series of radios or terminals 10, which maycommunicate directly with each one to another, as shown in FIG. 1A, orto other terminals 10 via link-routing where other, intermediateterminals are used, as shown in FIG. 1B. For simplicity, only three suchterminals 10 have been shown in FIG. 1B, it being understood that thead-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system will employ a multitude of suchterminals, whereby the routing of a call from one terminal to anotherwill employ a number of other, intermediate terminals. Such an ad-hoc,peer-to-peer radio system is disclosed in the above-mentionedcommonly-owned applications serial No. 60/246,833 and Ser. No.09/815,157, and in priority application serial No. 60/248,182. Thepresent invention applies to all types of ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radiosystems, but has particular relevance to type disclosed in theabove-mentioned copending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/705,588.

In the ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system disclosed in above-mentionedpatent applications, routing of a radio call from a source-terminal to adestination-terminal is achieved by a method and algorithm thatcalculates the routing path based on least energy; that is, the majorcomponent of the routing decision is to choose the route to thedestination that uses the least amount of energy over the completeroute. The major reason for this is that least-energy routing minimizesthe radiated RF energy, in order to reduce interference betweenterminals. As a result of this, it creates the most efficient use of thepower supply of the terminals.

FIG. 2 shows an extreme example of what happens without using leastenergy routing. The radio source uses a direct route to the destination.This route requires high power, which results in a large number of otherradios being interfered with. Therefore, according to least energyrouting disclosed in the above-mentioned, commonly-owned U.S.applications serial No. 60/246,833 and Ser. No. 09/815,157.

The source radio will choose an alternative routing path with a greaternumber of radio-hops through intermediate terminals, which will resultin reduced interference in the other radio terminals.

There are, also, other components of most conventional routingalgorithms for ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio systems that are generallyrelated to the Quality of Service (QOS). The two major attributes of QoSare: The potential for delay, or latency, and the potential for biterrors (BER) during transmission.

As seen in FIG. 3,the routing of calls is achieved by each terminalstoring a routing table if that terminal is to be part a link, or hop,of the routing path. This routing table includes all of the informationrequired by the source-terminal in order to determine and calculate theleast-energy path of routing of the call from source-terminal to thedestination-terminal. Adjacent or proximate terminals 10 exchangerouting tables, as seen in FIG. 3, whereby when a call is to be set upfrom a source-terminal, each terminal 10 already knows the routing tableof its most immediate or adjacent neighbor-terminal, whereby a call maybe routed to another destination-terminal, or to a router or gateway 20,for subsequent transmittal of the call to another similar cell ofterminals, to a cellular switched network, or to the PSTN, and the like.

In accordance with the present invention, additional information isadded to each routing table of each terminal 10, which additionalinformation contains information about the status of the charge of thebattery of that terminal, whereby when routing tables are exchanged, thebattery status of each terminal is also taken into consideration whendetermining or calculating the best and most efficient routing path totake for completing a call from a source-terminal to adestination-terminal.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, each battery ofeach terminal 10 may assume one of four status-conditions of 2 bits, ormore than four status-conditions may be employed:

00 critical 01 poor 10 full 11 infinite.When a terminal 10 is in a charging cradle, or hooked up to an externalpower supply, it will identify itself as having infinite batterylife—code 11. A terminal with a fully charged battery will identifyitself as having excellent battery life—code 10. A terminal with a lowbattery life will identify itself as having poor battery life—code 01,which will indicate that it should only be used for routing emergencydata, or in the case of no other available option. Once the batterydrops below some configurable threshold, the terminal will identifyitself as having no battery life—code 00. This will allow the terminalto reserve some battery life for it's own use.

“Battery Conservation Algorithms”

The components of the system of the present invention described aboveare independent of the link layer of the ad-hoc transport of that systemdisclosed in the above-identified commonly-owned patent applications.The present invention adds the capability to the routing layer andcall-control layers of the ad-hoc network system, in order to permit thefunction of battery-conservation to be accomplished.

The basic reasoning behind the algorithm of the present invention is toadd a component to the routing decision that includes consideration forthe state of the battery. In order for this to work, the routingalgorithms are extended to include information about the battery stateof the terminal, such that if a choice of routes is available, one ofwhich includes a low battery terminal, the alternate route will beselected.

Referring now to FIGS. 4-7, there are shown the flow charts for themethod of adding battery-status information to the routing tables of theterminals 10. Each terminal periodically wakes up in order to check itsown battery status (FIG. 4A 0 Blocks 30, 32), after which it willupdate, if necessary, it routing table (FIG. 5). If the status remainsunchanged, then the status of the battery of that terminal will remainunchanged, or stable, as shown in FIG. 4B (block 36), and no change willbe made to that terminal's routing table. Again, periodically, theterminal will self-test its battery life (block 38). The battery statusis checked using the subroutine “Evaluation” (blocks 34 and 40 in FIGS.4A and 4B, respectfully).

Referring to FIG. 5, the “Evaluation” subroutine 42 is shown. Thissubroutine determines whether or not its terminal's routing table needsupdating based on the “check-battery status” subroutine of FIGS. 4A and4B (block 44 of FIG. 5). One the most-recent status has been determined(block 46), it is determined which of the four status-conditions exists:Infinite—block 48(code 11), high—block 50(code 10), low—block 52(code01), or critical—block 54 (code 00). If the status determined in block46 is the same as that of the previous results from the “check batterystatus” subroutine, then the program goes to block 56, indicating thatthe terminal's battery is stable, indicating that no change of statusfrom the previous determination has occurred, whereby no change is madeto the terminal's routing table. However, if there has been a changefrom the previous status, then the program will update the terminal'srouting table to the appropriate code-value. The update need notnecessarily be a downgrade; if, since the last status-check of thebattery the battery had been recharged, then a status-upgrade to therouting table will ensue. The updated routing table will be transmittedto each adjacent terminal of the ad-hoc, peer-peer-radio system,preferably as part of the configuration data time-frame messagingtransmitted and received on the control channel, as disclosed incommonly-owned U.S. application No. 60/246,833 and Ser. No. 09/815,157,which are incorporated by reference herein. Radio terminals of thead-hoc, peer-to-peer system thereof routinely exchange routing tableswith their neighbors, either after some configurable time delay, whichis typically several seconds, or when they note a change in theenvironment or view of the neighbors. The battery condition of theterminal then becomes a new and critical factor or parameter of therouting update message, which, according to the present invention, isincorporated into the updated routing table messaging.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, there is shown the flow charts for a sourceterminal 60 determining (block 62) the optimal route 64 for the type ofcall it is sending. In FIG. 7, the routing table messaging subroutineincludes calculated values for the Code Rate (block 66), the Symbol Rate(block 68), the Power Level (70), and the RTS (Request to Send) messageto another node-terminal or gateway(block 70), after which is waits forthe CTS (Clear to Send) message (block 72) from the other terminal orgateway.

“Terminal Battery Determination Algorithm”

The following are algorithms for performing the battery-status check andupdate of a terminal's battery, and its consideration in the routingdecision made by a source-terminal.

-   -   /*This algorithm is used by a hand-held terminal to define the        battery status and will report to other terminals in the routing        data exchange:

*/ IF power_source = external THEN Battery := infinite ELSE IFbattery_level = full THEN Battery := excellent ELSE IF battery_level >=config_param—battery THEN Battery := poor ELSE Battery := critical

/* config_param_battery is a system parameter that is provisioned overthe air or the terminal interface that defines the threshold foreliminating the terminal from the routing options. This should rangefrom 25% to 50% of the available battery power.

*/

Terminals exchange routing table information on a regular basis via thetime-frame messaging on the control channel of the ad-hoc, peer-to-peerradio system. These messages include information on the terminals thatthe initiating device can see and the parameters that it understandsabout those terminals. The critical components are the quality of thelink between the initiating device and all those terminals, the datarates that it could maintain on those links, and the congestion level ofthe terminal. To this information is added the present invention'sindication of the battery level of the initiating terminal.

The routing update message includes a new field battery_condition:battery_condition (2 bits)

02 critical 03 poor 11 full 11 infinite

As previously mentioned, there are several schemes that can be employedby the source of a message to determine the optimal route to thedestination. The following algorithm is based on a minimum energyrouting algorithm.

-   -   source-routing (message_ptr,msg-length,destination, msg-type)    -   /* source based routing including link adaptation algorithm    -   */    -   opt_route(destination, msg_type)    -   /* determine optimal route to destination this will return the        best available route based on Class Of Service (COS) from        msg_type and other network parameters including link quality and        battery life. The returned information will be used to calculate        the data rate and power level

*/ calc_symbol_rate (sym_rate) calc_code_rate (code_rate) calc_pwr_level(pwr_level)send_msg(RTS,msg_length,destination,sym_rate,code_rate,pwr_level) /*send RTS to first router and await CTS to send the data packet

The Symbol Rate is a standard calculation of the number of RF chips tobe used to define a symbol or bit of data in the transmission.

The Code Rate is conventional, and is a function of the direct sequencespread spectrum, and, specifically, the spreading code PN to be used forthe transmission.

Power Level is defined in 1 dB steps between −27 and +28 dBm, where28dBm is approximately equivalent to the maximum power allowed under FCCRules for the ISN band; for other RF spectrums, the range may vary.

opt_route (destination, msg_type)

RTS refers to Request-To-Send message; CTS refers to Clear-To-Sendmessage; msg refers to the message sent from each terminal. The “code”is one of the four 2-digit codes of the battery status described above.

/*This algorithm determines the best route to the destination based onthe COS in the message type.

The following example illustrates the decision process:

-   Route1 term1->term4-   Low latency, worst battery level=excellent, BER=high-   Route 2 term1->term2->term4-   High latency, worst battery level=good, BER=low-   Route 3 term1->term2->term3->term4-   High latency, worst battery level poor, BER=low-   Route 4 term1->term5->term6->term4-   Low latency, worst battery level=poor, BER=low

BER is Bit-Error-Rate; latency is delay.

In the case of a voice call that has a COS that can tolerate a high BERbut not high latency, it would choose route 1 over route 4 because ofthe battery and because it cannot tolerate high latency.

In the case of a data call that has a COS that can tolerate high latencybut not high BER, it will choose route 2 over route 3 or 4 because ofthe battery.

In a second embodiment, instead of utilizing four battery levels in thealgorithm of the invention, there are seven battery levels used andreported.

Battery—A value from 0-7 designating the following battery conditions:

-   -   0. IAP;    -   1. Wireless Router;    -   2. Subscriber Device with non-battery power;    -   3. Subscriber Device with nearly full battery (>80%);    -   4. Subscriber Device with battery level (>50%);    -   5. Subscriber Device with battery level low (>20%);    -   6. Subscriber Device (or Wireless Router) with minimal battery        (>0%);    -   7. Subscriber Device: Don't Use Ever. This prevention should be        capable of being chosen by the network manager remotely.

The following is an example of the routing table messaging used in thepresent invention incorporating seven such battery status indications.

1 Ad-Hoc Routing Header

Mod ID (8 bits) Msg ID (8 bits) Version (8 bits) TOS (8 bits) Lateral (1bits) Sequence Num (8) Carrier ID (16 bits) TTL (hops) (7 bits) SourceAddress (48 bits) Destination Address (48 bits) Payload (X bits)

This is the standard header for all AHRL inter-node messages. ThePayload field may be an IP message to be transmitted, or any other AHRLmessage going over-the-air. Each field is described as:

-   Mod ID: the module generating the message-   Msg ID: the unique message type identified assigned and known on a    module-by-module basis.-   Version: The software version being used by the generating terminal:    4 bits for major rev, and 4 bits for minor rev.-   TOS: the standard internet TOS field which effects QoS. Inter AHR    messages shall set the TOS based on a lookup table of values TBD    which is based on the payload being sent.-   LAT/TTL: The TTL (time to live) field is the estimated hop count    based on the number of hops indicated in the routing table. One is    subtracted from this count at each relaying node. If the TTL reaches    zero, then the message is destroyed. The Lateral bit is used to    indicate that this message has been laterally forwarded, and the hop    count is not decremented.-   Carrier ID: This value is used to distinguish one Arachnet system    from another.-   Source Address: The 48-bit hardware address of the originating    terminal of the message.-   Destination Address: The 48-bit hardware address of the destination    terminal.-   Payload: Any block of data that is to be transmitted over-the-air.    2. Routing Advertisement Message (RA)    2.1 Routing Advertisement Header

Node Addr (48-bits) Seq. Num (8-bits) Num Entries (8-bits) Metrics(32-bits)

-   Note Addr—The 48-bit address of the sender of the Routing    Advertisement.-   Seq Num—A sequence number which is incremented each time a node    sends a Routing Advertisement.-   Num Entries—The number of entries in the Routing Advertisement.-   Metrics—The metrics associated with a sending node. See section 3.    2.2 Routing Advertisement Entry

Node Address (48-bits) Next Hop Address (48-bits) Metrics (32-bits)Repeat up to MAX_RA_NODES...This is the Routing Advertisement message, which is defined in theRouting module spect. It is contained within the RT to TC IMM.

-   Node Address—The 48-bit address of the destination being reported by    the sender of the Routing Advertisement.-   Next Hop Address—The 48-bit address of the node that is being used    as the next hop from the sender of the Routing Advertisement towards    the destination being reported.-   Metrics—The metrics associated with the destination being reported.    See section 3.    3 Routing Metrics

Energy (16-bits) Hops-3 Congestion-3 ^(Mobility-1) ^(Ra Heard-1)Battery-3 pad-5The metrics sent in the routing advertisement are used to determine aLink Resistance value that becomes the cost associated with the route tothe destination. The metrics are associated with the best path that thesender has currently chose to reach that destination. The following aredescriptions of each metric:

-   Energy—A value that is calculated with the formula:    Cost=10 dB+(Power Level)+10*log10(Max Data Rate/DataRate)

EXAMPLE 1

Power Level=−10 dbm, Data Rate=8 MbpsCost=10+(−10)+10*log10(8/8)=10+(−10)+0

EXAMPLE 2

Power Level=+30 dbm, Data Rate=500 kbps.Cost=10+(+30)+10*log10(8/0.5)=40+10*1.2=52The range for this value is 0-52.

-   Hops—The number of hops to the sender of the RA to the destination.-   Congestion—The average quantized level of congestion from the sender    of the RA to the destination (range 0-7).-   Mobility—A bit designating whether or not the destination node is    currently moving.-   Ra Heard—A bit designating whether or not the sender of the RA has    recently received an RA from the destination being reported.-   Battery—A value from 0-7 designating the following battery    conditions:    -   0. IAP    -   1. Wireless Router    -   2. Subscriber Device with non-battery power    -   3. Subscriber Device with nearly full battery (>80%)    -   4. Subscriber Device with battery level (>50%)    -   5. Subscriber Device with battery level low (>20%)    -   6. Subscriber Device (or Wireless Router) with minimal battery        (>0%)    -   7. Subscriber Device: Don't Use Ever. This prevention should be        capable of being chosen by the network manager remotely        There are 5 additional bits remaining for future metrics        expansion. Also, there are additional bits in the energy field        that may be used.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, it is to be understood that numerous changes andmodifications may be made therein without departing from the scope andspirit of the invention.

1. In an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series ofterminals where each said terminal is capable of making at least one ofan outgoing call or receiving an incoming call, each said terminalcomprising a battery, each said terminal further comprising computermeans and memory means for storing program software means therein, saidmemory means comprising software means for generating a routing tablefor use by other terminals in determining the routing path of a call tobe made or received thereby, and where said at least one of an outgoingcall or an incoming call is routed to its destination by routing saidcall along a route utilizing at least some of said terminals of saidseries of terminals as links, the improvement comprising: said softwaremeans of said memory means of each said terminal comprises means forchecking the status of the respective said battery in order to includesaid battery-status in said routing table, whereby each terminal maycalculate the most optimal routing path of terminals based on batterystatus.
 2. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 1,wherein said means for checking the status of the respective saidbattery of said software means comprises a plurality of statusindicators; said plurality of status indicators comprising at least twoof: infinite, full, poor and critical; said infinite status indicatorindicating a terminal whose power source is external, said full statusindicator indicating an approximately fully charged battery, said poorstatus indicator indicating a substantially discharged battery, and saidcritical status indicator indicating a battery charge below apredetermined critical value.
 3. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio systemaccording to claim 2, wherein said means for checking the status of therespective said battery comprises at least all four of said statusindicators.
 4. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim1, wherein said software means of said memory means further comprisesmeans for determining and reporting in said routing table information onleast-energy routing so that the least amount of energy over a selectedroute is chosen for completing a call, whereby the minimizing ofradiated RF energy is achieved in order to reduce interference betweenterminals.
 5. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim2, wherein software means of said memory means comprises updating meansfor updating the battery status indicator of said respective routingtable thereof based on the most recent status report determined by saidmeans for checking the status of the respective said battery.
 6. Thead-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 5, wherein saidsoftware means of said memory means further comprises message-generatingmeans for generating a routing table, said routing table comprisingtime-frame based messaging, said time-frame based messaging having saidbattery-status indicator as a section thereof.
 7. The ad-hoc,peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 6, wherein time-frame basedmessaging is based on time division technique in a code divisionmultiple access (CDMA) system.
 8. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio systemaccording to claim 6, wherein message-generating means for generating arouting table of each said terminal also comprises information onleast-energy routing so that the least amount of energy over a selectedroute is chosen for completing a call, whereby the minimizing ofradiated RF energy is achieved in order to reduce interference betweenterminals, said time-frame based messaging also having a section forreporting least-energy routing of a call.
 9. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peerradio system according to claim 6, wherein said message-generating meansfor generating a routing table further comprises means for generatinginformation on the class of service (COS) being transmitted, said meansfor generating information on the type of message being sent comprisingthe capability of reporting at least one of the following types of COSinformation: voice type information, data type information, and videotype information, whereby routing of a call is based also on the saidtype of COS information being transmitted.
 10. In an ad-hoc,peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of terminals where eachsaid terminal is capable of making at least one of an outgoing call orreceiving an incoming call, each said terminal comprising a battery,each said terminal further comprising computer means and memory meansfor storing program software means therein, the method comprising: (a)generating at each said terminal a routing table for use by other saidterminals in determining the routing path of a call to be made orreceived thereby; (b) routing a call to its destination using saidrouting tables by selecting a path utilizing at least some of saidterminals of said series of terminals as links; (c) said step (a)comprising including in each said routing table informational data aboutthe status of the battery of the respective said terminal; (d) said step(b) comprising selecting a path for said routing at least partiallybased on said informational data about the status of the batteries ofpotential terminal-links.
 11. The method according to claim 10, whereinbefore said step (c): (e) checking the status of the battery charge ofthe respective said terminal by said software means of said memorymeans; and (f) inserting said status from said step (e) into therespective said routing table for said step (c).
 12. The methodaccording to claim 11, wherein said step (e) comprises selecting saidstatus to report to said routing table from one of a series of possiblestatus indicator states.
 13. The method according to claim 12, whereinsaid step (e) comprises selecting one from more than three possiblestatus indicator states.
 14. The method according to claim 10, whereinsaid step (a) comprises including in each said routing tableinformational data about least-energy routing so that the least amountof energy over a selected route is chosen for completing a call, wherebythe minimizing of radiated RF energy is achieved in order to reduceinterference between terminals.
 15. The method according to claim 14,wherein said step (a) further comprises generating informational data ineach said respective routing table regarding the class of service (COS)being transmitted, said step of generating informational data on thetype of message being sent comprising the reporting at least two of thefollowing types of COS information: voice type information, data typeinformation, and video type information, whereby routing of a call isbased also on the said type of COS information being transmitted.
 16. Ina radio terminal used in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system, whichradio system comprising a series of radio terminals each capable ofmaking at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call;said radio terminal comprising a battery, computer means, and memorymeans for storing program software means therein, said memory meanscomprising software means for generating a routing table for use byother terminals in determining the routing path of a call along a routeutilizing at least some of said radio terminals of said series ofterminals as links, the improvement comprising: said software means ofsaid memory means of said radio terminal comprising means for checkingthe status of said battery in order to include said battery-status insaid routing table, whereby each said radio terminal of said radiosystem may calculate the most optimal routing path of terminals based onbattery status.
 17. The radio terminal according to claim 16, whereinsaid means for checking the status of the respective said battery ofsaid software means comprises means for checking for a plurality ofstatus indicators; said plurality of status indicators comprising atleast four said status indicators of: infinite, full, poor and critical;said infinite status indicator indicating a terminal whose power sourceis external, said full status indicator indicating an approximatelyfully charged battery, said poor status indicator indicating asubstantially discharged battery, and said critical status indicatorindicating a battery charge below a predetermined critical value. 18.The radio terminal according to claim 17, wherein said means forchecking the status of the respective said battery comprises means forchecking for at least all four of said status indicators.
 19. The radioterminal according to claim 16, wherein said software means of saidmemory means further comprises means for determining and reporting insaid routing table information on least-energy routing so that the leastamount of energy over a selected route is chosen for completing a call,whereby the minimizing of radiated RF energy is achieved in order toreduce interference between terminals.
 20. The radio terminal accordingto claim 16, wherein software means of said memory means comprisesupdating means for updating the battery status indicator of saidrespective routing table thereof based on the most recent status reportdetermined by said means for checking the status of the respective saidbattery.
 21. The radio terminal according to claim 19, wherein saidsoftware means of said memory means further comprises message-generatingmeans for generating said routing table, said routing table comprisingtime-frame based messaging, said time-frame based messaging having saidbattery-status indicator as a section thereof.
 22. The radio terminalaccording to claim 21, wherein time-frame based messaging is based ontime division duplex (TDD) technique in a code division multiple access(CDMA) system.
 23. The radio terminal according to claim 21, whereinmessage-generating means for generating a routing table of each saidterminal also comprises information on least-energy routing so that theleast amount of energy over a selected route is chosen for completing acall, whereby the minimizing of radiated RF energy is achieved in orderto reduce interference between terminals, said time-frame basedmessaging also having a section for reporting least-energy routing of acall.
 24. The radio terminal according to claim 21, wherein saidmessage-generating means for generating a routing table furthercomprises means for generating information on the class of service (COS)being transmitted, said means for generating information on the type ofmessage being sent comprising the capability of reporting at least twoof the following types of COS information: voice type information, datatype information, and video type information, whereby routing of a callis based also on the said type of COS information being transmitted. 25.A method of routing a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system,which radio system comprising a series of radio terminals each capableof making at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incomingcall, and where each said terminal is capable of being a link to a callmade from a source-terminal, said method comprising: (a) transmittingone of voice or data over a routing path of said terminals; (b)determining the class of service (COS) of the call; (c) said step(b)comprising determining which of said voice or data is being transmittedby the call; (d) selecting a routing path based on said step (b); (e)said step (c) comprising basing its decision of a routing path based onlatency, bit error rate, and battery level of each potential terminal ofa selected said routing path.
 26. The method of routing a call in anad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 25, wherein whensaid step (b) indicates voice transmission and said step (d) compriseschoosing a routing path of terminals having relatively high BER andrelatively low latency.
 27. The method of routing a call in an ad-hoc,peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 25, wherein when said step(b) indicates data transmission, and said step (d) comprises choosing arouting path of terminals having relatively low BER and relatively highlatency.
 28. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 1,wherein said checking means checks the status of the respective saidbattery when its respective said terminal is acting as a router formultiple terminals in the ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system.
 29. Themethod according to claim 10, wherein said information data pertains tothe status of the battery of the respective said terminal when therespective said terminal is acting as a router for multiple terminals inthe ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system.
 30. The radio terminal accordingto claim 16, wherein said checking means checks the status of saidbattery when said radio terminal is acting as a router for multipleradio terminals in the ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system.